Donnerstag, 26. April 2012

I planned to blog somewhat earlier this month but since I was always downswinging after posting graphs I figured it's in my best interest not to do so and it seem to prove me right.

First off this was one of my biggest month at the tables, definitely the best in the last 2 years and hourly-wise most certainly the best ever. It started off pretty massive from day one and I haven't booked too many losing days in the process as u can see:

Main reasons for that are good play, insanely good games and being 6k over EV helps obviously as well. I also managed to play a very funny hand in the beginning of the month at ZOOM 500 which I already crossposted a couple of times and around half of the 6k EV are from it. In the meanwhile this was also my biggest pot profitwise. If you missed it just click on the link below:

Besides my play some other big things happend on the poker horizon as well. Yesterday the rumour started that Pokerstars is going to buy Full Tilt Poker or at least what is left of it. That was pretty big news. Even though nothing is 100% confirmed yet it seems to me as if this is going to happen. While this is a very good thing for the people who have still lined up alot of money at Full Tilt this is great news bc with 99% probabilty they will get their money back. On the downside this will give Pokerstars a massive monopoly on the whole onlinepokermarket which might not be so favourable because they then can basically do whatever they want to do. However Stars always seemend like a sane company so I hope they'll act in our best interest and in the best interest for the longtime health/future of online poker. Even onlinepoker in the US might be back a little sooner than anybody would have expected if this is going to happen.

Concerning Buenos Aires and Argentina I rented a nice loft in a poshy area for the last 30 days:

Defintely was worth its money and even teh internet was very reliable which wasn't always the case in Brazil. On a sidenote this was teh first time since like 4 years that I lived alone and not together with friends which was a nice experience as well.
Regarding Buenos Aires I cannot say too much because I haven't seen too much - at least not during daytime... I was pretty much nerding it up the last month, playing poker, working out a little and going out like 2 times a week. From the cities I've seen so far this was definitely the one which I liked most so far for a couple of reasons: First to mention is probably the outstanding nightlife. I have the feeling I haven't even seen 10% of it yet but what I saw was defnitely awesome - so many possibilties. It's alot different compared to europe here. The main thing is that everything is happening much later. When you go out on the weekend it is comon to have dinner before you go but you not going to have it at 7 or 8pm, you are going to have it moar like between 10 and midnight. When you think you hit the club directly thereafter you are wrong again. You go to a bar or a friends place, have a couple of drinks and then hit a club very earliest at 2am, but in general a tad later. Most clubs don't even have opened b4 midnight which is just mental haha. Peak of the night is between 4 and 5 when most europeans already back in bed. As being said just a sick experience. And for me as a pokerplayer this whole schedule is even better bc I basically can work the whole european night (which is in general the peaktime) b4 going out bc of the timedifference and bc of the late nightlife in BA - maybe no coincidence why I had such a good month?!

A big advantage compared to Brazil was definitely the pricing. While Brazil was sick expensive BA was insanely cheap... Here you can easily order a complete meal for 8Euro which is never going to happen in Brazil, here you can drink champagne in a club for 30-50Euros a bottle where you at least pay triple that amount in a club in Florianopolis, here you can rent pretty sick places for decent money which are just not affordable in Rio, and so on. You can pretty much spread that schema on everything from what I've seen. As my argentinian pokermate told me: "If you are able to make your salary in dollar, euro or pounds you can easily live like a king here" - [x] agreed!

Also very good for me was the availabilty of online food delivery services. So I managed to only cook once during the entire month which obv. saves alot of time as well. Quality wise it was decent for the most part, not as good as in London though, pretty quick and very cheap - definitely will miss that back in Malta where I actually have to grab the phone and pick it up when I want to eat...

Major problem as usual was ofc the english language. While it was alot better here compared to Floripa in case of speaking english it was still bad. But while the people in Brazil basically not spoke a single word english you can at least have brief conversations here with the younger people and even some really do speak english. There is also a shitload of poker-professionals living in this city so that you can have a big community from day1. Got to know alot of cool people over the last weeks :) My plan over the next year or two is nevertheless to learn spanish somehow and then come back for another South American adventure...

Probably needless to say but same as in Brazil the standard girl here tends to be hotter than their counterpart in europe. I don't know if it has to do with the genes, that they do more in order to look nice or if it's just the southern air but it is as it is - and I'm not even a huge latina fan tbh... no offence european ladies ;)

As I'm writing this the clock is ticking... I will check out of my apartment at 3am in order to catch my flight at 6:30 with destination Frankfurt. Will arrive in FFM on saturday and already have two parties lined up for the 28th and the 30th to catch up with some old friends - definitely looking forward. Also decided to reward myself with a nice rental car for my four days in Germany. Have now the decision between an M3 and a Porsche 911 - still not sure if I cancel one reservation or leave them both, flip a coin in Frankfurt and pay the penalty for not doing the storno... Will also give my parents a short visit once I'm there which should make them happy bc last time I saw them was christmas...

On the day of labour I finally move back to Malta aka teh rock for my 3.5th summer there which should be a good time as well. I hope that bc of all teh parties I do not forget the working part but since it always worked out somehow over the last couple of years it should be fine...

adios Argentina and see you soon, good old Europe (never thought I could really miss it but somehow I do...)

Über mich

My name is Tim and my current residence is in Vienna - i moved abroad from Germany a long time ago in order to play poker fulltime.
I started playing poker for a living in the end of 2008 and never looked back after I quit my boring 9to5 controlling job in a big chemical company in Germany. I have a bachelor degree in Business Information Systems from which i don't really benefit though. During the last years I was pretty much living the life - driving fast cars, making alot of party, renting lovely properties, doing sports and playing some cards in the meanwhile. I also had the freedom to visit and live in some countries like Thailand, Brazil, Argentina, England, Australia, Indonesia and others for a while. This list definitely will be continued...
Day in and day out I see people complaining and not being satisfied with their jobs, their money, their partners, their lifes - but strangely 99% of that people accept things like they are and not do anything to change that - I decided in 2008 to not remain one of them... I'm a do'er ;)
Live Strong!